Peter Mangs has been found guilty in the controversial Malmo sniper case.
On Tuesday, Malmo District Court found the suspect guilty of 13 of the 20 charges, which included four counts of murder and three counts of illegal threats. However, he managed to avoid conviction on one murder charge due to a lack of evidence.
Chief prosecutor Solveig Wollstad, told the TT news agency, “Peter Mangs has ruthlessly ruined the lives of several people. These crimes have been committed in a terribly cold and cynical way, completely devoid of any feeling. We argue that he had the clear intent to shoot foreigners.”
Mr Mangs will now be evaluated by psychiatric professionals, officials said on Tuesday. The process will reportedly take four weeks before a hearing is held next month to decide his punishment.
A parent of one victim said, “This is what we have been hoping for. Even if I have felt all this time that it must be so, this is the truth, seeing as the decision comes from the court,” TT reports.
Mangs was officially charged last year following his November 2010 arrest in the wake of numerous shootings targeting immigrants living in the Swedish city of Malmo.